Peggy Ebner

1934 - 2020

Peggy A. Ebner
November 27, 1934 - September 14, 2020
Peggy A. Ebner
San Francisco, CA – Peggy A. Ebner, age 85, passed away peacefully on Monday, September 14 in her home in San Francisco. Peggy passed with her loving son John Ebner and his spouse George Limperis, her grandson Elliott and her dear friend Gail Thomson by her side. Peggy was diagnosed with bladder cancer in late May of this year.
Peggy was born November 27, 1934 to Albert and Katherine Luckring of Brewster, OH. Peggy was the 2nd of three children.
After graduating as salutatorian of her high school in 1952, Peggy attended nursing school at Massillon City Hospital graduating in 1955 as a Registered Nurse. Peggy was torn between teaching and nursing but settled on nursing as a means of not only caring for those sick or injured but also teaching them healthy living. She almost missed the opportunity to serve her community as a nurse. Until the 1970s, women weren't able to obtain credit in their own names; a male member of her household was required to co-sign on a student loan of $500.00. Peggy's father refused to co-sign. It was Peggy's brother-in-law who recognized Peggy's determination and vocation and secretly co-signed her student loan.
Peggy met and married John J. Ebner in 1956. They remained together until John's death in 1994. Together they had three sons, Jeffrey, John and Joel. Joel was born with profound disabilities. Throughout their lives both Peggy and John rose to the occasion of not only loving Joel, but caring for his very extensive needs. Joel continues to reside at The Luther Home of Mercy in Willison, OH.
Peggy and John lived in Massillon, Bryan, Oxford and Marion, OH where they settled in 1972 and remained for decades. In each of these Ohio towns, Peggy worked in the local hospitals. In Marion, Peggy began working at the Smith Clinic in the emergency department. She eventually became the department manager and was instrumental in designing a new and vastly expanded emergency department for the Smith Clinic.
Peggy also spearheaded the establishment of protocols for handling cases of suspected child abuse in the ED. In addition, she went on to advocate expanded roles and duties for EMTs so that emergency care would begin during transportation of a patient and not wait until their arrival to the ED. Peggy designed protocols for this expansion with her dear and longtime friend, Dixie Lyons – a nurse at Marion general Hospital. Part of developing the best possible program included Peggy working in the role of an EMT as well as having EMTs working in her ED.
Beyond her role as a nurse, Peggy was heavily involved with The United Way and for years did extensive fundraising on its behalf.
Peggy retired from the Smith Clinic in 1989 leaving behind one of Ohio's most successfully managed Emergency Departments. For the next few years she and John traveled across the US.
Nursing was still her first love and so in the 1990s Peggy again took up nursing in the ED at Marion General Hospital. She retired again in the early 2000s but still could not sit still. Indulging her love of teaching, Peggy taught medical terminology at Marion Technical College.
In 2011, at the age of 76, Peggy decided to move closer to her son John in San Francisco. An avid baseball fan, she bid a tearful goodbye to her beloved Cleveland Indians and gleefully adopted her new hometown team – The Giants.
Peggy met her dear friend Gail at the Castro Senior Center. Their friendship was almost ordained as they discovered they were both from Ohio and both retired nurses. Peggy was always involved with charity works and became a spokesperson for the fundraising efforts of one of The SF Giants premier charities – Project Open Hand. At the senior center, together with Gail, she established Ask the Nurse – a weekly seminar and Q&A on health topics important to seniors.
Peggy suffered from macular degeneration and so, along with Gail, moved from her apartment in Noe Valley to a senior living building – The Carlisle – as apartment-mates. It was here Peggy, unsurprisingly, established even more enduring friendships with the other residents.
The memory of this loving, generous, strong and intelligent woman will be cherished by her son John Ebner and her son-in-law George Limperis; her grandson Elliott Ebner; her dear friend Gail Thomson, and her numerous family members and friends spanning many years in Ohio and in San Francisco.
Memorial contributions can be made to any of the following:
The Raphael House
Project Open Hand
A memorial service for Peggy will be announced at a later date to take place at The Carlisle in San Francisco and live streamed for family and friends everywhere.